Finish Line
by smellslikechidna
Summary: [SA2, 2 of 3] As Sonic raced through the Crazy Gadget, what was going on at the other end?
1. 1

Disclaimer: _Sonic Adventure 2: Battle_, and all characters contained within are sole property of Sonic Team, SEGA and Sammy. Even this fic idea probably isn't very original.

Set towards the end of _Sonic Adventure 2_. While Sonic races through the Crazy Gadget, what's going on at the other end?

Finish Line

-1-

by smellslikechidna

Space, and therefore, the metal walls of ARK, was cold. A thin cotton dress was nowhere near enough, even with fur underneath it. So Amy Rose paced, to try to warm herself up, and cheering herself up slightly in her solitude by imagining the beating she would give Sonic and Tails for leaving her on her own in what was unofficially Eggman Territory. Had history taught those two boys nothing? She sighed. If they didn't want her there, they could have at least _said_… "Darn," she said aloud, a little irritated, a little melodramatically. "why do they always leave a sweet little innocent girl like me _alone_?" The melodrama made her feel a little better, but only just. Stupid Sonic and stupid Tails, and stupid, _stupid_ Knuckles, almost crashing the shuttle like he did.

If Sonic wasn't Sonic, she'd hate him.

As Amy silently fumed to herself, she completely failed to notice the large mech standing silently behind her, its human pilot watching the pink hedgehog with unconcealed amusement.

This was why Eggman enjoyed his occasional bout against his nemesis. Sonic always screwed up at one time or another. A click and the laser pistol he held in a large, gloved hand was ready to aim. "Well well, young lady," he purred, in his most deceptive of voices, not the arrogant confidence he used against Sonic. "Is there something I can… _help_ you with?" he asked, rhetorically, pointing the weapon straight between Amy's eyes as she spun around in shock.

"Doctor… Eggman!?" she gasped, trailing off as she realised that one wrong move and she would be very, very dead.

Eggman was counting on that. "_If_ you value your life, you will tell me where Sonic and Tails are." he told her, wavering his hand slightly to let the short hedgehog know he meant business. Amy realised that Sonic, quite frankly, _sucked_.

* * *

The walk to the main control room was horrible. Eggman, in his loud, clunking Walker, chose to walk just behind Amy with the pistol still perfectly aimed, to make sure she didn't "try anything stupid". Amy, less than half of his size, walked with her head bowed, a chill creeping up her spine with every step, reminding her just how close that laser was, how close she was to becoming Amy-flavoured mincemeat on the floor.

She planned what she had to say for herself, when the inevitable came, and she would be forced to call either Sonic, or Tails, and confess that she'd been caught. Again. What was it Sonic had called her…? Oh yes. A "professional hostage", he'd said, teasingly, a few weeks after Chaos.

She couldn't tell Sonic. Absolutely not. After all the bravado she'd pulled, swearing to be more independent, not relying on Sonic's heroics to save her day all the time… Knuckles had ran off and probably wouldn't care if it didn't involve the Master Emerald in some shape or form.

So that left Tails.

Oh, that would be fun. The fox was a great deal more mature than Sonic. She could imagine Sonic scolding her; he'd done it more than once, but Tails… Tails reacted differently. He'd be concerned, a little worried, but not too much, because no matter what screw-ups happened, they'd never lost someone before, Eggman had never seemed the type to kill a hostage – _hostage_, she thought miserably, _that's what I am now_.

Ugh.

In short, talking to Tails would put her on a _huge_ guilt trip. Still, better a guilt trip than giving Sonic _another_ reason…

"Left." Her ear twitched, Eggman knew she had heard him, and she turned in the assigned direction, her skirts swishing dully as she went, tail drooping between her legs like the kicked dog she was.

The room, obviously one of the main control rooms on ARK, was bright, and uncharacteristically airy for something that was planning to destroy Station Square, not to mention the rest of the country. Eggman piloted his walker over to a computer panel in the far corner of the room, and the heavy door they had walked through slammed shut with an impressive bang that Amy could hear echo down the corridors.

She shuddered. No way out. She doubted even Knuckles could break it down. Eggman turned his Walker to face her, and raised his pistol again. "So, Miss Rose," and it was a horrible voice, rolling, threats hanging in the air as he spoke, so much more worse than the last time. "Sonic and Tails?"

The feeling of wanting to vomit settled heavily in her stomach, her eyes stung and her nose prickled, like it always did when she wanted to cry. _Traitor_, her mind hissed at her, pulling at her fur until it stood on end between the spines. _You're going to sell them out to save your own pelt_. She stood still, mentally running through everything she had picked up before the boys had left – one of them had the fake Chaos Emerald, she knew that much, and it was probably Sonic who had it… Sonic, who was on his way to carry out the final part of the mission, Sonic, who, if this screwed up, could end up…

Well. That wouldn't happen, because Sonic never screwed up, she thought decidedly. Sonic needed more time, and besides, she'd rather tell Tails that she was the idiot, rather than radio Sonic.

"I must warn you, I'm a very impatient man."

Her ears burned under his precise watch. Slightly more determined than she had been, now that Eggman was on the other side of the room, not aiming down her neck, she tugged out the small walkie-talkie that Tails had given them all on the shuttle, twisting the dial so it tapped into the frequency that matched Tails'. The sick feeling rose again, she felt her throat thicken when she imagined what the fox's voice would sound like. Deep breath. She pressed the 'connect' button. "Tails?"

Crackle, fizz. "Amy?!" Tails' voice was distorted as it came out of the speaker, and he sounded surprised. "What is it?" Fizz. She raised it back to her lips, pausing, thinking of what, exactly, to say, hating each word.

"Tails… do you know where the control room," here, she looked towards the tall human across the room, who nodded in affirmation, "is?" She released the button and waited for Tails' answer.

Hiss, spit. "I can find it on the schematics… what are _you_ doing there?" A pause, in which neither said anything, and Eggman watched the exchange with no small amount of amusement. "Oh, _Amy…_" he sighed, another crackle down the line, and then muttered something. Tails wasn't stupid, he could imagine why Amy had radioed him in favour of her hero. "I'll be there soon. You okay?"

"…I'm fine." Lying through her pointed little teeth, she answered. "Don't be too long, okay? And be careful!" she added. Her captor wasn't exactly the most scrupulous of humans

"Got it."

And the line was dead. And Amy bit her tongue. A pitiful punishment. Guilt twisted around her spine, from the tail up, tying itself into a pretty little noose around her neck.

"Aw, man, this _sucks_."

* * *

(A/N – Part 1 over. Parts 2 and 3 still to come. Con-crit much appreciated.) 


	2. 2

Disclaimer: _Sonic Adventure 2_ and all characters contained within belong to SEGA and Sonic Team. Me make no money. This is just my attempt to give Amy Rose a little bit more credit than being a plot device. n.n;

Love and bunnies to Kirby-Chan263, Golbezandcrew, Root Nodule! 00, Sonic19902, SpadeHand and Amissa! And as for answers… I adore Amy as a character due to the potential she has, I don't mind if you hate her (though _please_ read Fleetway!), I _hate_ Sonic Team's treatment of her lately (and don't get me started on _Heroes…_ Sonic's lines – WHY!?), and no, I have absolutely no intention of abandoning poor, adorable, vicious little Shadow. I have much in store for his poor, addled brain. D

Part 2!

Finish Line

-2-

by smellslikechidna

"I'll be there soon. You okay?" Tails asked, though, he realised, he wasn't exactly concerned – Eggman wasn't as stupid as to waste a perfectly good battery. He shivered slightly under his thick coat, and it was not due to the cold.

"…I'm fine." Amy replied, though Tails had always thought that to be a vague answer from anyone. Sonic could have broken his neck and still waved it off, rather than cause a fuss. "Don't be too long, okay? And be careful!" she added.

"Got it." And Tails had – don't be too long, Amy had said, but left unsaid what they both knew – Sonic needed time, and as much of it as possible. The connection died, and Tails took the opportunity to aim a large metal boot at an idle Omochao to vent his frustration. How typically Amy Rose, getting caught with less than an hour to go before Eggman blew up the country. An annoyed growl escaping his throat, he swung the Tornado around about face, and stomped through the Engine room and back out into the hallway.

_I knew,_ he thought, shooting down some of the floating GUN Security mechs as he retraced his heavy steps, _that this would happen._ The minute he'd seen her on Prison Island, in fact, and she'd been cornered again by Eggman. Didn't she know when to learn her lesson?! He piloted the Tornado towards one of the lifts, grumbling the whole way about how he shouldn't have to be doing this… and then his ego decided to make a rare appearance. Tails could do this – could rescue Amy and stop Eggman – he had his Cannon upgraded, was one of the best shots in the country.

No sweat. 

-

Eggman sweated. Profusely. Amy wrinkled up her short nose in disgust behind his back and tried to put as much distance between her and her captor as possible when he took a large yellow handkerchief out of his pocket and proceeded to mop his face. No comment on the large patches under his arms.

She sat, curled up, near the window, out of Eggman's way while he discussed things through a radio link with that dark-voiced hedgehog she had thought was Sonic a few days previously, watching the stars. Distantly, she realised that in any other situation, she would have had Sonic by the arm demanding he watch them with her.

Her fingers itched for something to do; she hated sitting still. Her cards were back in her apartment, and something in her gut told her that doing a reading now, here, of all places, wasn't a particularly good idea. Sonic and Tails thought that they were "hokey", anyway, and Knuckles, the few times he displayed interest, was far too superstitious for his own good.

So Amy waited.

And waited.

And she hated waiting, but really, the longer Tails took, the closer Sonic would be to completing the mission – whatever it was that Tails had told him to do. She supposed that, in a strange sort of way, it was a good thing that she was left out of the loop. What she didn't know couldn't screw this up any further. Really, the irony was too much. She'd managed to fend for herself for the first time in her life, had watched Zero burn to a metal husk, completely proud of herself. She hadn't even done it in self-defence – not really, but defending someone else. For once, she was the hero(ine), not Sonic, or Tails. And the next time she gets involved in one of Sonic's 'adventures', she gets caught.

Almost straight away.

_Professional hostage_, she thought bitterly, Sonic's voice ringing mockingly around her head. She returned her gaze out of the thick window to where the stars were distorted slightly in the glass. She was _never_ going to hear the end of this. Tugging her tail into her lap and wringing it, her brow furrowed in annoyance. Stupid Eggman, the laser resting on the console he was standing at, ready to fire.

The door opened, the same one she'd been frogmarched in through, and Amy jumped to her feet - _Tails!_ she thought, stumbling with the way her legs had numbed from sitting down so long. But it was not the Tornado that stepped through the door.

"Shouldn't you watching the security cameras?" Hardly welcoming, Eggman shot a look at the dark hedgehog who stepped through the doorway – really, Amy thought, he was virtually the same height as Sonic was, she didn't see why Sonic had made fun of her when Tails told him about her 'mistake' on Prison Island. After all, if GUN could make that mistake, why couldn't she?

Shadow gave an equally cold look back, but with a tiny little smirk that Amy only noticed because she was blatantly staring. He looked dangerous, she decided, now that she had had a proper look at him, something hovering just out of reach, something about the hedgehog that… just wasn't quite right. "I was hoping you would be, actually," he replied, and Amy shivered; his voice was deadpan, and icy. "Camera D-5."

A bushy eyebrow raised, but Eggman did as the hedgehog told him, a large monitor in the centre of the room flickering to life with rolling CCTV. The corridor on screen looked familiar, in fact, Amy recognised it as the one she had been left in – a familiar scorch on the wall marking it as different from the rest. Her heart leapt when she saw Tails – looking thoroughly annoyed – aiming a mecha-powered kick at another Omochao, which bounced off the walls before flying up until it was eye-level with the fox, and proceeded to do what appeared to be royally telling him off, as Tails was wincing, his teeth bared in fright. Amy resisted the urge to giggle; easy, when that other hedgehog turned his cold, arrogant gaze onto her for just a moment, enough for her breath to catch when she remembered just what he was capable of, and then he looked away again.

Turned away, more like. "Where do you think you're going?" and Amy caught, in Eggman's voice, a slight uncertainty – Shadow was obviously no subordinate. Not to Eggman's agenda, at least. Her cards… she wanted her cards… Shadow canted a look back, blood-red eyes not catching the light.

"To watch. We have more than one extra guest. It would be rude not to invite him, as well."

_Sonic!_ Amy thought, instantly, and made to run as Shadow stepped out through the heavy door and it began to close behind him once again. She couldn't let that hedgehog catch Sonic – not because of her; she would _not_ let this be her fault…

-

Tails bit his tongue slightly to help himself focus, and ran the scanner one more time. By locking onto the frequency of Amy's radio, he could detect which room she was in, and the best way to get in, and out, as quickly as possible. She wasn't far, he knew that much, and judging by the heat readings, there was just her and Eggman – no problem. Sonic was in place, cheerfully whistling and barely even jogging.

"You should see it down here, Tails," Sonic was saying, and Tails could hear how his voice was echoing around the deserted colony, "a geek like you would love it!"

Tails could imagine – ancient hardware, salvageable metal… pining for his screwdriver, he shook his head, his ears flapping slightly, and dragged up his map of ARK as the Tornado walked. "Take a left," he informed Sonic, who did – Tails could see it on screen, "then through the main double-doors." That would bring Sonic into main belly of ARK, closer to the Cannon's Core – to go there would be a last resort of the highest degree.

"Got it," Sonic said, his voice crackling slightly through the staticky radio, and Tails felt relief swell inside of him – this was almost over…

"Okay, Sonic," he replied, slightly authoritatively, it felt good when Sonic had to rely on him for a change, "now put that emerald…"

-

Too much went wrong far too quickly. As Shadow stepped out of the door, and out of sight, Amy kicked off from the ground in a sprint – she wasn't as fast as Sonic, or Tails, or even Knuckles, for that matter, but she knew she was a damn sight faster than Eggman was, plus she had the element of surprise to her advantage. Eggman had never seen her _attempt_ to escape before. The human let out a cry of surprise as a short pink blur went racing past, and slammed his fist onto the door mechanism.

Amy was much too quick for that – she had learned quick reactions from chasing Sonic, fighting Zero, playing jump-rope with live electrical wires – and she was in the corridor even as the metal door slammed to a close. Fighting the urge to squeal in triumph, she took a quick look around; which way did she come from again?

Right – empty path leading around a blind curve. She could hear voices, she thought. There was nothing in front of her except metal wall.

Left – oh God.

Shadow the Hedgehog stood perfectly still, his features blank except for a look of bored intrigue. Amy took a step back, reaching for nothing with her right hand, her heart in her mouth and her throat thickening. Not now, _please_ not now… "You really are a clueless idiot, aren't you?" he said, his expression not changing, looking as though he had expected this to happen, slightly exasperated at Eggman's incompetence keeping this idiot girl under control.

Another step back, and Shadow copied it, stepping forwards. The door slowly ground open, Eggman's large form was visible instantly.

She freaked, and ran, and hit the (literal) dust when a black blur hooked her foot out from underneath her. Yelping as she fell, smacking her nose so hard she felt it might bleed, she scrabbled to her feet…

Only to come eye to eye with the same pistol as before. She shrank underneath it, her nose throbbing and feeling as though she'd gained friction burns on her knees and her ankle had been twisted.

What _now_?

Tails came careening around the corner, still talking to Sonic on his walkie-talkie. Evidently, he'd heard the commotion. Wide-eyed, Tails stared at where Amy was bleeding slightly, Shadow was walking away, Eggman was walking over to him, the pistol still trained on Amy but liable to move at any time. Sonic made an expectant noise on the other end, obviously clueless.

"A-hem." Eggman cleared his throat, and perfected his aim. Amy looked ridiculously small, her head hung low, her posture one of defeat. "Tails." He looked up, eyes defiant, even though Tails' intelligence meant that he knew it was all a lost cause. "Tell Sonic to meet you back at the research facility. Now." The button was still pressed; Sonic could easily have heard every word – a incredulous '_what_?!' was audible.

"…Sonic, Amy is…"

_Hating herself_, she thought, resentfully, sniffling when she felt blood from her nose start to head towards her lips.

She had so, _so_ screwed this up.

* * *

A/N – part 3 en route. Almost there, people. Con-crit is highly appreciated, I will love you forever if you do. 


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